Caliban
Caliban was a competitor robot which exclusively fought in Series 2 of Robot Wars. In its only appearance, it was eliminated at the Gauntlet stage after Sir Killalot picked it up and turned it over close to the start. A successor to Caliban, Caliban 2 was listed as an entry for Robot Wars: The Third Wars, however it would not be seen in the televised series.http://web.archive.org/20120316023759/members.fortunecity.com/imran98/links.htm Team TFOSICA would ultimately enter Daisy Chopper into the same series, although it is unknown whether Caliban 2 was a renamed Daisy Chopper, or a separate robot which was scrapped in favour of it. Design Caliban was a purple, cylindrical-shaped robot built from a bolted dexion frame, and featuring an aluminium shell. The robot was two-wheel driven and armed with a pair of interchangeable horizontal spinning weapons - a top-mounted flail, and a 'spinning dome', a second weapon concealing the robot's chassis and featuring a pair of cutting blades along its lower rim. The latter weapon was made out of an industrial fan, and featured a polycarbonate top rim. The 'dome', while potentially the first full-body spinner to appear in a televised Robot Wars competition, was never used, as Team TFOSICA elected to use Caliban's flail for its Gauntlet run. Interestingly, as well as introducing the full-body spinner, the team would also enter the first large vertical spinner in the UK Robot Wars, Daisy Chopper, in Series 3. Jackson Wallop, a robot similar in design to Caliban's flail form, was entered by Team Battlebot in Series 7. Robot History Series 2 Caliban competed in Heat A, and was the fourth robot in that heat to attempt the Gauntlet. It drove steadily out of its starting gate, turning towards and taking the left-hand route. However, as it turned, it hit the spiked pyramid near the 3.0m marker, and struggled to drive effectively as it backed and hit the pyramid again. Eventually, Caliban turned and drove alongside the pyramid, but backed into the wall, and was intercepted by Sir Killalot as it backed up and attempted to drive past him. Caliban's flail suddenly spun up as Sir Killalot nudged it, knocking off the 3.0m marker in the process, before Sir Killalot hooked Caliban by the chain and turned it over, stopping the flail as he did so. 'Cease' was called as Sir Killalot pushed the inverted Caliban back against the railings, with the latter only covering a distance of 0.2m as a result. Unseen on TV, Sir Killalot proceeded to cut away at one of Caliban's wheels, causing further damage. Having reached the shortest distance of all the competitors in its Heat, Caliban was eliminated from the Second Wars. According to Oliver Steeples, Team TFOSICA later complained that Caliban's Gauntlet run was fixed in an attempt to showcase the strength of Sir Killalot, but again this was not shown on television.http://freespace.virgin.net/oliver.steeples/series2/shows/show1.htm Results |} Series Record Caliban unpainted.gif|An unpainted Caliban during construction CalibanTeam.jpg|Caliban with Team TFOSICA, in its full-body spinner configuration toecutant.jpg|Toecutter the Team's antweight Trivia *Caliban is one of twenty robots never to fight in robot combat, having only ever competed in the Gauntlet and/or Trial stages. *Having only reached a distance of 0.2m during its run, Caliban earned the dubious distinction of being the worst-performing robot in The Gauntlet across the first two series. References External Links *Team TFOSICA website Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots that only lost in the Gauntlet or Trial Category:Robots from Surrey Category:Full Body Spinners Category:Robots with Flails Category:Robots with Interchangeable Weapons Category:Robots which debuted in Series 2 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 2 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 3 Category:Robots with names based on literature